The complexion of the Eastern Conference finals changed immediately and dramatically during Game 1 when Ben Bishop got carted off of the ice on a stretcher; given the cards they were dealt, the Tampa Bay Lightning surprised many and went on to win Game 1.
Bishop remained out for last night's Game 2, and is day-to-day with a lower leg injury.
Speaking of injuries, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Patrick Lundqvist is one of two Pens players who doesn’t wear a helmet during practice. He may rethink that after last night, as he took a puck to the head during warm-ups and hurriedly skated off of the ice. While he was shaken up in the warm-ups, he was still in the Pens lineup and played all of Game 2.
Anton Stralman came back into the Lightning lineup, but they lost Callahan to the flu. It was Stralman’s first game back after being out 7 weeks with a fractured leg; during regular season, he had 9 goals and 25 assists.
The Pens’ Cullen opened the scoring in last night's Game 2 of the series when he went top shelf on Vasilevskiy. Vasy rebounded the shot, but during his second attempt, Cullen lobbed it in.
The second goal of the game came minutes later from Kessel, at 9 minutes and 37 seconds into the 1st. For Kessel, this was his 19th career playoff goal in 35 games.
With 6:37 left to go in the 1st, Tampa’s Alex Kilorn got put in the box for holding against Sidney Crosby. The Penguins were 4 for the last 9 on power plays. The Lightning lowered their PP percentage even more while building a bit of momentum and killing the PP.
The serious game-changer came minutes later, when Stralman scored the Lightning’s first goal of the game, tightening the score 2-1. This was Stralman’s 83rd playoff game.
After two successful penalty kills, the Lightning come back to tie the game 2-2. Jonathan Drouin skated right, shot left and nailed the puck into the goal right under the right arm of Pens goalie Matt Murray.
A penalty was given to Murray for tripping Ondrej Palat 7 minutes into the 2nd, but the Penguins upped the pressure during the 2nd half of the period. They challenged Vasilevskiy relentlessly, but he found his groove, stopping puck after puck after puck. At the end of the 2nd, the score remained tied, 2-2.
At the start of the 3rd, the Pens, their defense worn by the Bolts during the previous two periods, came back with their quick attacks on the goal and dominated the puck. This forced the Lightning to go an entire 7 minutes into the 3rd without a single shot on goal. Even though the game had been tied 2-2 since the end of the 1st, it felt like Pittsburgh was behind in the 3rd. With 7 min to go, shots were 13-5 on Vasilevskiy. The Pens were getting desperate, being down in 1-0 in the series with the score still tied toward the end of the second game.
Both teams needed one guy to make one mistake in the 3rd. Neither team did, and off into overtime it went. The tension increased. The Pens haven’t lost back-to-back games since mid January; this was a do-or-die game for them.
Forty seconds in, Penguins captain Sydney Crosby, who hasn’t scored for 8 games, fired the puck past Vasilevskiy to win the game. This was his first OT winning goal of the playoffs.
Despite the loss, Vasilevskiy was unbelievable tonight. He stopped 35 shots. In the 3rd, the Bolts were outshot 16-6. After the game, Boyle commented on Vasilevskiy's performance, saying, "He was awesome. He gave us a chance. He was tremendous for us.”
The Bolts had come back 3 times when trailing by 2. All three times they’d lost. This game made it 4.
The Penguins battled to stay in the game, and it paid off. They had 38 shots on goal to the Lightning’s 21. The best-of-seven-series is now tied, 1-1.
Game 3 will be played at Amalie Arena on Wednesday, May 18th at 8 p.m.
This article appears in May 12-19, 2016.
